Politics.za

Has Gauteng Premier Mcebisi Mbhazima Shilowa ever seen a multi-billion Rand train project he didn’t like? First we had the Gautrain (R20 billion and probably rising) and then we had the proposed Soweto Monorail which would have cost R12 billion, although it seemed it was going to be privately funded. That was quickly shot down by the national Transport Ministry but lo and behold it seems to be possibly back on the drawing board.

Minister of Education Naledi Pandor has said that officials and administrators in the Department of Education can no longer play the ‘Apartheid!’ card when quizzed on why they’re not performing.

Some cite apartheid. I acknowledge that the legacy of apartheid continues to affect us, but it no longer serves to explain continued failures on our part. Others cite inadequate resources. Yet, given our budget, this is also no longer a persuasive argument.

That’s kind of refreshing to hear from a cabinet minister, we’ll see if other departments start expressing the same sentiment.

Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe says the first time he heard about the proposed monorail between Soweto and Johannesburg was when he read about it in the paper.

Radebe said it was not clear “what particular process” had been followed to secure the contract for the monorail. “I’m as in the dark as you are at the moment,” he told the committee.

Now the federalists amongst you out there might very well be cheering the Gauteng provincial government along, after all what business does the national government have in a province’s affairs. Unfortunately with the current administrations love for central planning and considering that all rail projects are considered an area of ‘national competence’ I guess we can assume the monorail is all but dead now.

Update: Government halts Gauteng monorail

The building of a 44,7 kilometre monorail between Johannesburg and Soweto has been “put on hold”, the Transport ministry said on Friday.

If you asked government today what is the strategic goal for South Africa in relation to the rest of the continent I bet the answer would probably be something along the lines of: “To be the driving economic force on the continent and to be a strong influence on African governments”. Unfortunately for the SA government in a few short years that phrase may apply to China more than it does SA.

China is investing billions in Africa and in doing so is quickly becoming the “go to” government for infrastructure investment. The May issue of Maverick has an article about the massive investments China is making in special economic zones in Zambia, Mauritius, Nigeria and Tanzania. China is aiming to lock up massive amounts of raw and mineral resources from central Africa and is investing in railways and manufacturing.

All this investment always has a political price attached and should SA and China ever differ on some issue it will be interesting to see who the African countries that have received Chinese investment stand behind.

Here’s an Erwin-level foot-in-mouth quote from Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi.

Germiston is a station where a lot of industrial goods pass through, especially cargo going to industrial areas of Gauteng. If you take that cable wire you are in fact stopping the economy from growing, you’re slowing down the economy.

I have reached a conclusion that it is highly organised and is not only organised but also has got certain objectives of arriving at certain goals including economic ones.

It is entirely possible that organised crime is involved in cable theft, but I think the monetary value of the metal in the cable is far higher on the criminal mind than ruining the economy.

This is a hallmark of the paranoia that is rife in the Mbeki administration. The problems at Koeberg, a problem due to negligence, were initially blamed on ‘sabotage’. The TAC have been implied by the government to be working in cahoots with the pharmaceutical companies, when in actual fact they have fought just as hard against them as they have against the Minister of Health.

It is much easier to blame some secret conspiracy out to keep you down than it is your own negligence.

Parliament’s legal advisers believe that the proposed Film And Publication Amendment Bill (which we’ve covered before) is unconstitutional. Hopefully this will stop this idiotic piece of legislation from being passed but there’s always the chance the ANC will push this through parliament to be rubberstamped into law.

This law is as stupid as the RICA Amendment Bill (which I haven’t seen any activity over in almost a year). They both need to go into the legislative dustbin.

DA Federal Chairman Joe Seremane has stated that he will not seek the position of leader of the DA in parliament.

I don’t think I will. I’m not desperate. I stood for (national) party leader because a step had to be taken. I said my election would be a moment of truth for the party

I believe the extremely small number of votes he received (a mere 65 votes out of over 1000) during the DA leadership elections this past weekend probably played a factor in this decision.

A few months ago the national and provincial housing departments excluded the Cape Town municipality from the N2 Gateway Housing project claiming that it was a project of national importance. Well that decision seems to have come back to haunt them because the CT municipality would have been perfect scapegoats for the current problems at the project.

Residents slam govt houses

It will cost millions of rand to repair structural damage caused by poor workmanship to the N2 Gateway housing project.

Richard Dyantyi, provincial minister of housing, said it was shocking that problems were being experienced at rental units in phase 1 less than a year after construction.

The N2 gateweay project is still way way behind schedule. 705 units have been made available but when you consider that Cape Town has a housing backlog of 400 000 people then it really is more of a shiny showcase than an actual solution to Cape Town’s housing problem.

In the past on this blog we’ve called for cabinet ministers in charge of non-performing departments to be dismissed. The Business Day Weekender echoed those sentiments in this weeks editorial where they opine over the fact that any hope that Thabo Mbeki might be leaving a distinguished legacy is being diminished by the day because he won’t fire useless cabinet ministers.

All of these could stall SA’s development and destroy Mbeki’s legacy. It is now easy to forget that when Mbeki took the reins in June 1999, his popular nickname was Mr Delivery. Eight years later, it is impossible to attach this tag to him. This reality is more dangerous to Mbeki than any populist pretender to his throne.

• Communications – the sooner Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri gets the boot the better
• Trade and Industry – mainly due to the ongoing Lotto debacle and our selective tarriffs on Chinese textiles

P.S. Speaking of useless ministries did anyone notice in the Sunday Times Careers section that the recruitment ad for the vacant Director-General of Home Affairs post was recalled?

Despite being hampered by a combination of non-stop infighting and complete marginalisation by the ANC in their role in the anti-Apartheid struggle, the PAC sure does have a lot of optimisim:

The PAC expected to be on the comeback trail in the 2009 elections, be the official opposition in 2014 and become the ruling party come 2019.